Bound

excerpt


Kail pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes and curled up on the couch, cowering inwardly at the memories that threatened to overwhelm her. No, no, no, no! she screamed at the demons dancing whirlwinds through her mind. You can’t hurt me anymore! I’m free from you! You’re not here! Churr is here! He loves me! He promised he wouldn’t leave me! He’ll protect me from you!
But the demons didn’t even balk at her words. They teased and tickled at her mind, poisoning her soul with their twisted, tormenting threads. He’ll never stay with you, they hissed. Not after he finds out what you truly are. Not after he finds out what you’ve done, how you’ve become what you are. You are evil, and he’ll soon know it.
No! she shrieked, drawing further in on herself. But she couldn’t deny the whispers in her mind. They held the tiniest grain of truth, and sometimes that was all it took. They knew that, and they used it against her.
First one memory, then several others latched onto her mind in succession, tearing at her soul and locking poisoned talons into her very being....



“You and that demonspawn you call a child can be fodder for the dragonslayers, for all I care!” the large blue growled at the smaller green. “I’ll have none of it! I never wanted that worm-infested brat in the first place!”
The female green hissed up at her mate. “You never wanted her, huh? How about when I told you I was having her? I didn’t see you back out then!”
“You wouldn’t let me!” The blue shoved his mate’s shoulder, sending her scrambling back a pace. “You kept me locked with your talons, screaming that if I didn’t stay, you’d tear through my wings without a second thought! I don’t know about you, but I value flight!”
“You slimy, slithering kraken! Worm-fodder! You think that now, because she’s old enough to actually crawl around, you can leave?! I have never seen such cowardice in my life! Get out of here, if you’re not going to stay! Get out before I do rip your wings from your miserable, festering body!” She bellowed at him and swiped at his wings with her talons.
He didn’t wait a moment longer. Turning on his tail, he fled from the caverns. Before he disappeared, he shouted over his shoulder, “I got the better end of the deal, Ilaya! If I ever see you and that piece of snake-dung again, I’ll rip you to shreds and feast on your blood and bones!”
Ilaya bellowed at him, but did not give chase. The tiny green dragonet curled in the back of the cave only shivered and pulled in tighter on herself....



The young child fought desperately against the green-eyed boy facing her. From the sidelines, Ilaya Drakoven-Valeshyan shouted out—not words of encouragement, but curses for the girl-child’s failings. The child tried to ignore her mother’s bellows, but Ilaya was so loud.
The boy struck her shoulder with the flat of his blade, sending her stumbling toward the boundary line of the ring. She recovered quickly and whirled, swinging back with her own sword. Every time she gained a hit, though, her mother shouted out how she could’ve done better, and every time she messed up, her mother’s cursing drowned out all other voices in the mountaintop arena.
The boy suddenly sliced across the girl’s thigh, sending lances of pain shooting down her leg and up her side, so that she almost dropped her sword. Instead, though, she gritted her teeth and lunged. The boy’s eyes suddenly bulged, wide in surprise, as her sword slid fast through his gut, burying itself to the hilt. Such was the fate of the loser of these arena fights among the rogues.
Blood trickled slowly over her hand as the boy’s knees gave way. He sank to the dust of the arena floor, and she pulled her sword from his stomach and wiped it on his shirt. Wiping a sympathetic tear from her eye, she walked to where her indignant mother, now in human form, stood.
Ilaya’s armored arms were crossed against her dragon-plated chest, and her long, black hair flowed in the wind. Fierce green eyes pierced to the girl’s very soul, and full red lips frowned like a thunderstorm. “Girl, you didn’t block some of his blows enough, and your swordsmanship was sloppy,” Ilaya said coldly. The girl didn’t answer, only bowed her head. Ilaya considered her child, then gestured imperiously with one hand. “Come, Girl. The Warriors have seen fit to choose you a name.”
The girl sullenly followed her mother, and only looked up from the track in front of her when they reached the place where the Council of Warriors—not really a council; more of a barely-organized mob—met. Their leader, an especially large blue, glared down at the pair of greens approaching. The blue’s scaled lips curled in disdain at the human appearance of the two, and Ilaya swiftly retook her dragon form, motioning for her daughter to do so as well.
The blue settled back at the more pleasing change in those who faced her. “So,” she began, a scar in her lower lip causing a lisp in her voice, “this one is to be named now?”
Ilaya nodded. “She has killed the unnamed child of Jaekin and Yevina. This makes her fifth time, and therefore she must have a name.”
“Is that so?” Geryllan, a green male, hissed. He and the other dragons turned to each other to discuss in private. The little girl-dragon shifted her feet uncomfortably, but at a glare from her mother she stilled.
The blue female turned back toward the two greens before her. “We have decided,” she said sibilantly, “that the child shall be called by the name of ‘warrior,’ as a momento to her victories. Step forward child.”
The little dragonet walked forward, bowing her head in mingled respect and fear of the council.
The blue smiled at such subservience. “Daughter of Vyken Valeshyan and Ilaya Drakoven-Valeshyan, from this day forth you shall be called Kail Valeshyan.”



Kail finished pulling the entrails from the dragonslayer’s gut and strung them out to dry along the perimeter of her temporary nest. Let that teach others a lesson, she thought vehemently to herself, kicking the human man’s body toward the fire. Her green scales glistened in the ruddy firelight, a glowing green star on the darkened hillside. Above the entrance to her personal cave, the bleached bones of a larger dragon hung in a macabre position. Kail sneered at it. “How am I doing now, Mother?” she asked, a lilt of mockery in the last word. As usual, the bones didn’t answer.
Kail stepped closer, admiring again the long fracture and puncture in the skull just beneath the right eye. Not a single dragon could survive a blow to the sensitive area beneath the eyes. Not even a mother who didn’t trust her own child.
With good reason, too, Kail thought, allowing herself a small chuckle. Let that be a lesson to you, Mother. Never let your guard down, even among family.
The human body began to crackle by the fireside, and Kail returned to rip the heated meat from the bones, the man’s body warm and bloody in her mouth. His weapons were already arrayed among the entrails, and Kail didn’t think that any other humans would be bothering her for some time.



Kail curled tighter on the couch, only whimpering now. The memories had even stolen her voice from her, leaving her drained and tear-sodden. Oh, what have I done? she pleaded with the skies. Lord, Lady, have mercy on a wretched creature like me. Let me die now, before I do the same to Churr and our child.
But there was no divine answer. She hadn’t expected any, not when her soul was so filthy that even Churr would back away in terror should he see it. And all the other dragons wondered why she was such a hardened fighter....
She rose stiffly from the couch, sniffling and wiping her nose on the back of her gauntlet. Churr must never find out. He must never know what she’d done, what she might do if given the chance. She couldn’t betray him and their child that way. She was her mother’s daughter, and must therefore do everything in her power to keep from taking after her parents.
She stumbled into one of the other rooms in the suite, where Churr kept some of his bottles and vials of medicines on shelving. She knew just what she needed, exactly which dark-tinted bottle held the liquid that would do the trick. He had told her often enough that when used properly on the outside of the body, the substance would heal almost as well as his draconic gift. However, he had told her that she must never drink any, even accidentally, for the substance was a poison that would travel slowly and painfully through a system before reaching the heart.
She found the vial with no trouble at all. It’s dark blue glass was almost invisible in the back of the cabinet, but Kail knew where to look. She removed the tiny cork stoppering the bottle, and took a whiff. The pungent odor stung her nostrils, causing her to reel back a moment. When she regained her footing, she took the bottle back to the couch, settling down with her legs stretched out beside her. I’m sorry, little one, she whispered to herself, brushing her hand across her belly. Maybe it was better that the child not be brought into such a cursed and cruel world. Yes, this was for the best.
Churr, don’t try to stop me, she thought, as she lifted the vial to her lips. She thought, briefly, that his faint voice cried out from a great distance, calling out her name, but she brushed the errant thought aside and drank.



“Kail!” Churr bellowed, sitting bolt upright. The other healers looked at him oddly, but only Kyra moved forward as Churr pushed himself up from the sofa on which he’d been sitting. “What is it, Churr?” she asked, worried at the stricken expression his face wore. What could drive the young healer to apparent madness?
He ignored her, and instead pushed past her toward the door. Two of the other healers tried to restrain him, but he had a sudden strength born of his determination, and casually brushed them aside. Kyra pelted after him as he headed toward his suite at a dead run.
He burst into the main room of his suite, and froze in shock and horror at the sight of his wife stretched out on the couch, writhing in pain and convulsing occasionally. Her lips were blackened, and blood trickled down her cheek where she’d bitten her lower lip. Her veins stood out on her neck, and tears streaked her face. Churr opened his gift to her, and suddenly slammed his shields up again as a massive wash of pain assaulted his senses. He recognized the putrid stench among that agony: vergallen root, an incredible healing agent when used on the skin, a deadly and slow-acting poison when taken internally. He cursed loudly and roundly and scooped Kail’s thin body up in his powerful arms.
Three of the other healers and Kyra followed him as he carried his dying wife into the bedroom. He laid her out on the bed, sitting behind her shoulders and wrapping her upper body in his arms. He held her tight against his chest, using one hand to try to hold her head still as she thrashed, and lowered his shields again.
He gritted his teeth at the pain he felt as he began working his gift through her body, trying to clear the poisons from her veins.
It wasn’t working.
The stronger poisons were too powerful for his gift to transmute or draw away, and the weaker ones were hidden behind those strong toxins. Churr cursed again. Hold in there, liyari, don’t die on me, he whispered into her mind, hoping that she was still alive enough to hear and understand him. As he continued the litany, he wrapped the unborn fetus within her body in an envelope of healing power to protect it from the poisons that slowly worked their way toward the woman’s vital organs.
One of the other healers walked up to Churr’s side as the other two prepared for the strain on their gifts that was to come. The first healer held a bottle of something a milky white, and a small pouch Churr knew held an anti-toxin powder. “Open her mouth,” the healer said calmly.
How can you be so calm? Churr wanted to shout at the older healer. Instead, he carefully forced Kail’s mouth open, trying to hold her at the same time to keep her from kicking the other two healers. They began to work through her lower legs, trying to burn some of the poisons from her blood. It was difficult for them to hold her legs still enough, but they managed to catch one. While one healer held her leg still, the other began to use his gift.
The first healer poured the powder into Kail’s open mouth, then added the milk-white liquid. Immediately, the powder-liquid mix began frothing, and Churr obeyed the healer when he told him to hold Kail’s mouth closed again. Please live, Churr begged of Kail’s mind, stroking her soft, blood- and tear-streaked cheek as he held her tight against the convulsions. He again threaded his gift through her veins, working closely around her womb to protect their child.
At first, nothing worked. Then, her mind opened up to him weakly, though there was no guiding force behind it. She was weakening then, if her shields were coming down of their own accord. He saw the red-orange fire of her soul, lanced through with brown, thrashing as it took the vague shape of a human. It was drowning in a deeper sea of brown—the poison. Churr thrust out his own soul’s hand, the cool blue-green radiance of it driving back the poison. The thrashing essence reached out to him, and he clasped its hand in his own, pulling Kail back to life.
Slowly, some of the stronger poisons were beaten off by one of his healing assaults. Heartened, he began the slow, wearying work of healing.
A brief glance up at one point showed him Kyra, still standing at the foot of the bed, mixed emotions warring in her face. He thought he saw pity and concern in her eyes, but it fought against anger, jealousy, and outright hatred, and he felt a flash of irritation and anger in his own heart at his sister’s stubbornness.
Then Kail cried out, and Churr’s attention was again drawn away from his glowering sister. Let her be angry. He didn’t care anymore. All that mattered to him now was keeping his wife and child alive.
Laboriously, and with a long hour or so of sweaty, painful work, they managed to drive the worst of the poisons from Kail’s body. The anti-toxin the first healer had given her helped, weakening the stronger poisons so that the four healers could transmute them into harmless substances, or draw the poisons into themselves, where their healing gifts would burn them away. Kail slowly slipped from poisoned-veined agony to feverish sleep, still tossing and turning with the violent fever, but beyond the worst of the poison. Churr wearily leaned his head against the headboard of the bed and whispered a prayer of thanks to the Lord and Lady for protecting his love.
It was then that he realized he’d been crying.
He held Kail’s head and shoulders in his lap still, but gently lowered them to sit on a chair beside the bed, exhausted. He didn’t even notice when the other three healers left, or when Kyra fled the room.



Kyra’s eyes flashed with anger. She stalked down the hall, fuming. That...that harpy! How could she?! First she seduces him, and now she tries to hurt him! Her eyes started to mist over with tears of fury.
“Woah, Kyra, slow down!” Tey placed a hand on her shoulder before she could run into him. “What’s wrong?”
She looked up into his golden eyes. “Tey, I...she...she hurt him! That...that...she hurt him!” Kyra couldn’t think clearly.
“Who, when, and how, Kyra?” Tey asked gently, guiding her down the hall.
“K-Kail. Sh-she...this morning...she....”
“She what, Kyra?” Tey prompted in concern.
“She tried to kill herself! She seduced my brother and then she does this! I knew she didn’t care about him. I knew she shouldn’t be here. I knew she didn’t love him. I—”
“Hold it right there, Kyra,” Tey ordered. “You are going to come with me, and you are going to tell Avra everything.”
“T-tell Avra?” Kyra squeaked.
“Yes,” Tey said, his tone brooking no argument. “Now come on.”



Churr used one sleeve to wipe the sweat from his brow. Almost. I’m almost done. He placed his hands back on Kail’s shoulders and dropped the shields on his healing gift.
Traces of poison still remained in her body. Churr sought them out, changing the ones he could into something harmless, and drawing those he couldn’t change safely into himself, where his powers burned them away. He could feel her fever through her light shift. I have to do something about that. Tenderly, carefully, he took her fever into his own body, letting it fade into nothingness.
Exhausted, he leaned forward and rested his head and arms on the bed by his wife. The room faded into darkness, and he slept.



“So, let me see if I have this straight,” Avra said, massaging her temples slowly. When Tey had brought Kyra to her, she had been playing with the twins. Now the twins were off with Tey, and Avra was tackling the problem Kyra presented.
“What’s there to be confused about?” Kyra asked hotly, close to tears. “That green-scaled harpy seduced my twin, then tried to kill herself. She doesn’t love him!”
“Are you finished?” Avra asked pointedly. Kyra closed her mouth on what she was going to say next. “I want to tell you a story,” Avra continued. “Once, many years ago, there was a young dragon. She was happy with her family in the Stormheight Mountains, but that happiness was not to last. Dragonslayers killed her parents, cousins, and four of her brothers. She hid in a small cave so she would not be found. This young dragon left her home, which was no longer a home to her. She traveled all over, learning how to live by her wits, and learning how to live without anyone. Everyone she ever cared about eventually ended up leaving her alone. The people who taught her died. Her first love, a silver named Jarron Kavaran, was killed by a dragonslayer. Friends of hers were captured, killed, or grew old. After that, she vowed she would never care about anyone ever again. It hurt too much. She almost succeeded, too.”
“Almost?” Kyra asked questioningly.
“She met someone she couldn’t do anything to but love. She hated herself for it, and tried to remind herself of what had happened every other time she had dared to care for someone. But it didn’t matter. Finally, she decided to tell him how she felt, knowing that if he rejected her, her heart would shatter. But he didn’t. He held her and comforted her, and loved her with all his heart. And he still does.”
“Who...who was she?” Kyra asked, wiping tears from her eyes.
“That sorry little dragon was me,” Avra said calmly. “The point I’m trying to make is this: you don’t know Kail’s past. Neither do I, neither does Tey. However, from her behavior, I’m guessing she didn’t have an easy life. Like me. Until you know why she does things, don’t assume anything about her. And, whether you want to believe it or not, Kail loves your brother deeply. Give her a chance.”
Kyra nodded mutely. She had never known about Avra’s past. She didn’t know anything about Kail’s either. “Fine,” she mumbled. “I’ll give her a chance. Thank you, Avra.” She stood and left the room.
I should check on Churr. The thought flashed through her mind and, walking quickly, she was soon outside the door to her twin’s suite. She walked into the sitting room, and hesitated at the door to the main bedroom. Come on, it’s not like he’s going to bite your head off, she thought angrily to herself, and placed her hand on the doorknob.
She hesitated again. What is wrong with you, girl? He’s just your brother.
She tentatively opened the door, peeking her head in her brother’s bedroom. The other three healers had apparently not returned, leaving the rest of the work to Churr. The young man himself still sat in the chair beside the bed, slumped forward onto the mattress, his matted golden hair tangled about his eyes. His shoulders moved slowly with each of his haggard breaths. His broad hands, so skilled at healing, reached toward Kail’s sleeping form. One of her hands lay under his, and the small show pierced Kyra’s heart. Churr, why did you have to fall in love with her?
A momentary flash of anger returned at the sight of her spent brother, his resources exhausted in trying to save his suicidal wife. But what would’ve happened to him if she had succeeded? Would he have been the same man without her as he was before she’d come? The fire of Kail Valeshyan’s soul had devoured the brother she knew, and left behind a man lovesick and desperate for his wife’s attention. With that fierce thought foremost in her mind, she stepped into the room.
She froze, though, as Kail sat up and leaned against the pillows piled behind her. So the young woman wasn’t asleep after all! Kyra almost backed out of the room, except Kail looked at her with such a sudden and brief look of pleading, that Kyra almost felt sorry for her. Almost.
“What are you doing here?” Kail asked in a hoarse voice, barely a whisper. Kyra wondered why for a moment, then remembered that vergallen root burned the vocal cords if swallowed.
“I...uh...I....” She trailed off, suddenly short of words. This frail woman resembled the fiery Kail Valeshyan so little that Kyra found it difficult to remain angry at her, even with Churr unconscious from his desperate effort to save his wife. “I...I’m s-sorry,” she finally managed in a hurried whisper, unable to meet Kail’s eyes.
The sick woman looked down at Churr, a sorrowful expression crossing her face for the briefest moment, and she turned her hand beneath Churr’s so that she was holding his tightly. “I’m sorry,” she breathed, though Kyra didn’t believe for a moment that it was directed toward her. Kail had been staring at her husband when she’d said it, so it was obviously meant for him. A flash of ire twinged at Kyra’s mind. Did she mean it? And why wasn’t she sorry about what she’d done to Kyra? She barely resisted the temptation to walk over and strike the sick woman, but knew that Churr would have her hide if she did so. Oh, the curse of being twin-bound to a saldar-bound man!
With a frown on her lips and a slight nod to Kail, she took her leave. Let the woman stay with her brother; she didn’t care anymore!
She was so caught up in her own fury that she didn’t notice when she stalked around a corner and into the chest of a taller man. Caught off guard, she almost fell to the floor before his hands caught her by the waist and pulled her upright again.
“Watch where you’re going,” she snarled, before glancing up and realizing who she’d run into. As with every time she and he met, her knees melted, and she had to lean against his supportive arms to remain on her feet. “Uh, sorry,” she mumbled, as Davaon Tionos smiled down at her.
“That’s quite all right, Kyra,” he said softly, without relinquishing his hold on her waist. She hoped he wouldn’t. Not only would it keep her from falling, but she also needed someone to help her forget about her anger at Kail Valeshyan.
She was half hoping he’d kiss her when he held her closer, bent down, and pressed his mouth firmly against hers. All thoughts of Churr and Kail fled her mind as Davaon’s arms wrapped around her, and she found herself leaning closer, clutching his shirt, hungering for more. Davaon never failed to make her feel better, especially after a confrontation with Churr’s fire-spirited wife. Just the thought of Kail made Kyra shiver, as she did now, and Davaon held her tighter. Kyra suddenly didn’t even care that the marriage bracelet encircling his wrist—a rose-gold twin to her own—pressed into the small of her back.
He must’ve sensed the tension still in her body, for he lifted her into his arms and whispered against her mouth, “Come on. I know what you need right now.”
She didn’t answer, only held him tighter as he carried her through the halls to their suite.



Churr finally roused from pain-filled dreams and longing images to find Kail laying on her side, facing him, clutching his hand in her own. Tears flowed down her cheeks, tracing tracks from her red eyes and nose to her soft chin. “Oh, Kail,” he whispered, sitting up stiffly and reaching forward to brush the tears from her face. “I’m here, liyari.”
She didn’t say a word. Instead, she tried to rise shakily, crying freely, and he quickly gathered her into his arms as he sat on the bed, cradling her against his chest. He rocked her as sobs shook her shoulders, and stroked her hair. His hands ran down her body to check for any vestiges of poison in her blood, and found none. When his hand brushed against her womb, however, she flinched and tried to pull away.
He held her tight, forcing her to stay close. “Liyari,” he began, guessing what troubled her, “I don’t blame you. But I wish you would’ve talked to me. I’ll always listen to anything you have to say, and I’ll never condemn you for it.” He sighed deeply, his breath rattling in his chest. “If you didn’t want the child, you could’ve told me—”
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head weakly. “No, I want the baby. But I can’t...I can’t....” She trailed off, clutching him close. “Please don’t hate me.”
He held her firmly against his chest, so tight that had she been a true-human, he could’ve crushed her. “Never, liyari. Never.”
“I am my mother’s daughter,” she whispered.
“No, you’re not,” he protested, rocking her. “You are yourself.”
She shook her head violently. “No, I am. You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve done.”
Liyari,” he began, but she cut him off.
“I haven’t ever told you this. I haven’t told anyone, and I’m not sure if I can now, but I’ll try.” She took a deep breath. “I—” She dissolved into tears again.
He held her close, kissing her hair, her neck, her cheek, but didn’t say a word. She needed to speak next, to release the pain that had driven her to take poison.
But she couldn’t say the words. They wouldn’t come to her lips; he could see that clearly. Seeking to help her, he lifted her hand to his face.
Images flooded his mind as she opened up to him, memories of her life. Her father leaving with hatred in his eyes and voice...her mother driving her to fight...her mother insulting her and criticizing her whenever she didn’t surpass her mother’s expectations...killing the young boy in the ring...the others that she had killed before the fight with the boy, and the many after...her slaying her own mother in a fit of rage pent up over the decades she’d lived in Ilaya’s shadow...the various dragons, dragonslayers, and other humans that had crossed her path at the wrong time.... The list went on and on, and Churr wondered that Kail had kept herself together for so long.
Then he realized that she had survived by keeping it hidden within herself, and that the discovery of her pregnancy had been the key element in driving her to the decision to kill herself. He suddenly knew that she had fully believed herself capable of betraying both him and their child the way her parents had betrayed her. He tried to console Kail’s troubled mind and soul, and found himself again drawn into the fiery presence of her spirit. He found the last traces of a mental poison far more dangerous than anything she could’ve swallowed, and gently soothed and massaged at her spirit until the ache was driven away.
“Thank you,” she breathed, slipping gently into a restful slumber against his chest.
Fatigued from his extended efforts to heal his soulsick wife, he leaned against he headboard and followed her into a sleep so deep he didn’t remember dreaming.